Agathe Backer Grøndahl

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Agathe Backer Grøndahl

Agathe Backer , better known as Agathe Backer Grøndahl (born December 1, 1847 in Holmestrand , Vestfold , † June 4, 1907 on Ormøya in Aker) was a Norwegian composer and pianist .

Life

Agathe Backer came from a wealthy and art-loving family in which the daughters' talent was recognized and encouraged very early on. Already at the age of three she impressed her audience with her extraordinary game and was considered an absolute exceptional talent. This also applies to her sister Harriet Backer (1845–1932), who was to become a famous painter. A short time later the family moved to Christiania.

Agathe Backer studied piano , music theory and composition at the Christiania Conservatory with Otto Winter-Hjelm , Halfdan Kjerulf and Ludvig Mathias Lindeman . Between 1865 and 1869 she went to Berlin against her parents' wishes to study with the most respected piano teacher of the time, Theodor Kullak , and with the music teacher Richard Wüerst at the Kullak Conservatory . After returning to Norway , she made her debut in Christiania in 1868 under the then unknown Edvard Grieg with Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto . She then continued her studies with the famous conductor and composer Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow in Florence and with Franz Liszt in Weimar .

Agathe Backer Grøndahl

In the following years Agathe Backer made guest appearances as a pianist in many European countries. She was in London , among other places , where George Bernard Shaw heard her and called her the true successor to Clara Schumann . In 1875 she was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music .

In the same year she married the singing teacher and choir conductor Olaus Andreas Grøndahl, with whom she lived in Christiania and where her three sons were born. One of the sons -  Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl (1885–1959) - followed in his mother's footsteps and also became a well-known pianist. To improve the family's financial situation, she gave piano lessons daily. But she never gave up her concert activity. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889 she played Edvard Grieg's piano concerto in A minor, which was conducted by her husband. A few more concerts followed in her home country until her health deteriorated very much. Towards the end of her life, Backer Grøndahl became completely deaf and had to give up her career.

Works (selection)

  • 6 Etudes de Concert, Op. 11
  • 3 Etudes de Concert, Op. 32
  • 3 Etudes de Concert, Op. 47
  • 3 Etudes, Op. 22nd
  • 10 Fantasy Pieces, Op. 36
  • 5 Fantasy Pieces, Op. 45
  • 3 Pieces, Op. 15th
  • 3 Pieces, Op. 53
  • Prelude and Grand Menuet, Op. 61
  • 4 Sketches, Op. 19th
  • 12 Smaa Fantasistykker, Op. 55
  • Suite for Piano, Op. 20th
  • 3 Ungarske Studier, Op. 38

literature

  • Cecilie Dahm: Agathe Backer Grøndahl. Composers and pianists. Solum, Oslo 1998, ISBN 82-560-1152-1 .
  • Sixten Nordström: Så blir det musik. Universitetsförlaget Dialogos, Lund 1989, ISBN 91-7504-093-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cecilie Dahm: Agathe Backer Grøndahl: composers and pianists . Solum, Oslo 1998, ISBN 82-560-1152-1 . urn : nbn: no-nb_digibok_2010062508041 (only accessible for readers from Norway)
personal data
SURNAME Backer Grøndahl, Agathe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baker, Agathe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Holmestrand , Vestfold
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1907
Place of death Christiania